A Surprise for Nonna (McRoll in the REAL World Story by Mari and Ilna)
by ilna
Summary: The gang plans a special surprise for a very special someone. Part 16 of the 6th Annual McRoll in the REAL World Holiday Marathon.


_Clearly we're having too much fun so you're getting an extended marathon with stories today and tomorrow. :-)_

_**Hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

_A Surprise for Nonna (A McRoll in the REAL World Story by Mari and Ilna)_

"Okay, here's the plan." Steve clapped and rubbed his hands together. "While Nonna is gone, we are going to clean her house top to bottom."

DJ beamed. "To thank her for being such a good …" His voice trailed off as he forgot the word. He looked up at Steve. "Um …"

"Hostess," Steve supplied with a smile.

"Hostess," DJ repeated.

"And this includes totally restocking her pantry since we've all but eaten her out of house and home," Catherine added.

Elizabeth nodded. "That's our department," she said, nodding to Joseph. "With some valuable pre-mission intel from Danny and Grace."

"This is such a great idea," Gabby said.

Grace nodded, pressing her hands together. "Nonna is going to be so surprised! What are our assignments, Uncle Steve?"

"Okay, Cody and Jess, you get the ornaments off the tree and wrapped up, then all the bins and the tree go in the basement storage."

"We're on it," Cody said, and Jess nodded.

"Let Jadon and Dylan know when you're done with the tree and they can help carry bins downstairs."

"You got it, SuperSEAL," Jadon said.

Steve smirked at the nickname he'd gotten used to from Jadon over the years. "After the tree is down, the living room will need to be cleaned up and vacuumed."

Jess nodded. "Can do."

"Dylan and Jacob, you guys have the den," Steve said. "Dust and vacuum."

"On it," Dylan said, holding out a fist to his younger brother who bumped it.

"Bam!"

"We can't strip the beds yet since we'll need them tonight, but there's plenty of towels and other laundry to do," Steve said.

"We'll work on that," Gabby said, wrapping an arm through Danny's.

"Meanwhile, we'll get the bathrooms scrubbed." Catherine motioned between herself and Steve.

"Upstairs we'll need to dust and vacuum the hallway and bedrooms," Steve said.

"We can do that," Jenna said, nodding to Casey and Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn smiled. "Luckily Nonna has two vacuums."

"We'll have to do the best we can with the basement given all the mattresses and everything still down there," Steve said.

"We'll do that after we put the tree and stuff down there," Cody said.

"Perfect. That just leaves the kitchen."

"That's us," Mary said, motioning to Aaron. She looked at their daughter. "Peanut, do you want to help me and Daddy or help Jenna and Kaitlyn and Casey dust and vacuum the upstairs?"

"I'll help Casey and Kaitlyn, DJ, you wanna work with me?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "I'm a good duster, I helped Daddy and Mommy at home."

"I've got the mopping," Jadon said. "My time under the golden arches has prepared me well," he added with a laugh.

"I'll straighten up the pantry and clean the refrigerator so they're all ready for when Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Joseph get back with all the food," Grace said.

Elizabeth smiled. "You all know me well. I have the best assignment." She picked up the keys. "We're going to restock all the cleaning supplies for Nonna, too."

"Excellent," Steve said. "I think that's everything. You all have your assignments, any questions?"

"Just one," Jenna said. "How are we going to make sure Nonna doesn't come home before we're done?"

Steve looked at Catherine and grinned. "Oh, don't you worry about that. She's in good hands."

* * *

"It really isn't necessary for you to treat me," Nonna said as they sat at a table in the Highlawn Pavilion, a restaurant that overlooked the New York City skyline.

"It's our little thank you, so not another word," Ang said with a smile and Deb heartily agreed. "Danny and Angela said this was a favorite spot for family celebrations."

"And I can see why," Deb said. "The view is gorgeous."

Nonna smiled at her friends. "Wait until you taste the food."

The server, Giovanni, appeared to greet them and said, "Good afternoon, ladies, welcome to the Highlawn." He waved to Angie, who was seated in a booster, munching on some animal crackers. "Hello, princess."

"Joanie pwincess," she said and returned the wave.

"Her cousin is the biggest princess fan, ever," Deb explained.

"Ah ha." He nodded. "Well, you're cute enough to be a princess and smart enough to be anything you want."

"You've got that right," Nonna said, opening her menu. "I think we should start with some buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes to share. My family is here from Hawaii and California so let's highlight the local specialties."

"Sounds perfect." Giovanni nodded is approval. "I'll get the appetizer underway and you ladies decide on the rest of your meal."

"Cookies?" Angie asked hopefully.

"Cookies are for dessert, angel," Ang said with a smile.

Deb grinned. "And incredibly, we actually still have some of Nonna's back at the house."

"I'm a little surprised about that myself," Nonna admitted.

"Sounds delicious." Giovanni smiled. "I'll be back in a few."

"Thank you," Nonna said as he walked away.

Deb opened her menu and began to peruse the contents. "Now let's see here," she said. "Oh my, so many choices. I think it's going to take me quite a while to decide." She winked at Ang who followed suit.

"Me, too," Ang echoed.

"Not me," Nonna said. "I'm going to have the penne a la vodka."

"Must be nice, to be so decisive," Deb said. "I'm afraid we're all going to be sitting here an awfully long time while I read every menu item."

Ang hid her grin.

"Take your time, mi famiglia," Nonna said. "No rush at all. Daniel and Steven were taking the children to the park for more sledding so we have all the time in the world."

* * *

"Grace told me Nonna usually takes her tree down on New Year's Day," Jess said as she placed an ornament carefully in its box.

"I'm pretty sure she kept it up for the kids," Cody said, handing her another.

"I bet you're right."

"Especially Angie. She loves the decorations." He grinned. "That's how she ended up with Christmas lights in her room. Steve couldn't resist her puppy dog eyes and quivering lip when he tried to take them down last year."

"Aww, who could?"

"Who could what?" Danny asked as he passed the living room with an armload of towels for the laundry.

"Who could resist Angie," Cody said and put a lid on a full bin of ornaments.

"No one," Danny said without missing a beat. "Especially not her father."

* * *

"How are things going in here?" Steve asked, coming into the den.

"Great," Dylan said. "We're just finishing up dusting."

"Excellent."

"You know what this reminds me of, Uncle Steve?" Jacob asked.

Steve smiled. "I think I do."

"That time you stayed over at our house and we cleaned the whole place as a surprise for Mom!"

Steve's smile grew. "Where do you think I got the idea?"

"I was still calling you Commander Steve back then, remember?"

"I do. That was a long time ago." He paused, watching as Jacob stretched to dust a high shelf but couldn't quite make it, and smiled. "But I can still do this." He stepped closer and lifted Jacob into the air so he could reach.

Jacob laughed. "Yeah! Blast off!" He wiped the shelf and then Steve set him back down. Looking over at his brother, he said, "Remember how happy Mom was when she saw how clean the house was?"

Dylan nodded. "Yeah, that was awesome."

"I bet Nonna is gonna be just as happy," Jacob said. "And surprised."

Steve smiled, ruffling his hair. "I bet you're right."

* * *

"That was delicious," Nonna said, setting down her fork even as Deb and Ang still had half their meals to eat. "Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful time sledding."

"Oh, I'm sure they are," Ang said.

"What do you think, Angie?" Nonna asked the toddler. "Are Mommy and Daddy and DJ having fun sledding with everyone?"

"Daddy Mommy DJ cwean all up!" Angie said around a cracker.

"What, bambina?" Nonna ran a hand over the toddler's hair.

"Danno Gwace cwean."

"Oh, look at those yummy cookies, Angie," Ang said with a glance at Deb who quickly jumped in.

"Is that a monkey?"

"Ann Deb, dat effanant!" Angie giggled and held the elephant shaped cookie up.

"Oh my, you're right. Silly me." She winked at Ang and the two shared a conspiratorial smile.

* * *

"I haven't done this much cleaning in … ever," Jadon said, leaning on the mop handle in the bathroom doorway as Jess and Cody came back upstairs after tidying the basement.

"Oh come on," Cody said, "your mom always had you cleaning your house growing up."

Jadon nodded, acknowledging the point.

"And I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how clean you two keep your apartment," Jenna said, overhearing the conversation having come downstairs for more dust rags.

Jadon grinned. "Gotta show the ladies we know how to be domestic, ya know?"

Jess rolled her eyes. "What 'ladies'?"

"Well, you," Jadon said. "And …" He paused, thinking. "Well, the hypothetical other ladies I'll be bringing there eventually."

Jenna held up a hand. "I don't want to know."

Jadon draped an arm over her shoulder. "Come on, Mama Jenna, you know I'm no player."

She smiled. "I do know that."

"He just has one woman in mind," Jess said, exchanging a grin with Cody.

"Ooh, what's this?" Jenna asked, interested.

Jadon straightened, giving his friends a look. "It's nothing."

"Yet," Cody said. "Just some late night giggling."

"Giggling?" Jenna repeated, now grinning as well.

"Ya'll better get back to your assignments or I'm gonna tell SuperSEAL on you," Jadon said, picking up his mop.

"You're right," Jenna said. "We still have cleaning to do before Nonna gets home. We'll talk about the giggling later." She winked. "It's a long flight back to Hawaii."

* * *

"Here we are!" Elizabeth called as she and Joseph entered the house laden with bags.

"Guys, let's get the car unloaded," Steve took the bags from his mother in law and ran them into the kitchen. "I'm sure they bought out the Shoprite."

"I can help!" DJ said as he took a smaller bag from Joseph and followed him into the kitchen while Dylan, Jacob, and Casey followed Steve outside to get the next load from the car.

"All right," Steve directed once the groceries were all on the kitchen table and counters. "Produce is here," he pointed. "Cleaning supplies are against the far wall near the pantry, and non perishables are on the table. Let's get them put away. Danny and Grace know where Nonna keeps everything, so they're going to tell us what goes where."

"This won't take long," Catherine said. "I'm going to text Gram and Aunt Deb and let them know we're ready for the big reveal."

* * *

"Here they come," Jacob said from his perch by the window a half hour later and everyone quieted down, whispering excitedly.

Outside, Angela said, "There's a little surprise waiting inside," as she and Sal walked the ladies up to Nonna's front door.

"So you should go in first," Ang said.

"What kind of sur -" Nonna began as she entered the foyer and all the smiling faces greeted her with applause and "Surprise!" "We love you!" "Thank you!"

Angie, beaming at the excitement if not completely understanding why, threw up her arms and said, "Ta da!"

Looking around the immaculate living room, Nonna clapped and held out her arms. "Ohh, mio bambinas, what did you do?"

As each of them hugged her in turn, she was left with her arms around Danny and Grace, kissing each on the cheek. "All this work…"

"Just a thank you," Grace said, "You're the best for having all of us here, so we wanted to leave you with a freshly cleaned house."

"And lots of groceries," DJ added.

"Groceries?" Nonna shook her head. "You didn't have to …"

"We wanted to," Mary said. "I've never seen Joan so happy to clean." She kissed her daughter's head. "All of them were great."

"Because you're all family, and family pitches in," Nonna said. "And you two," she teased Ang and Deb. "Very stealthy."

"Let's look around and see this amazing handiwork," Deb said and linked arms with Aaron.

As she walked from room to room, seeing the hard work, the fully stocked pantry, the sparkling kitchen, she reached for Danny and Steve and hugged them both, then included Grace and Catherine. "Remember the first time you came to my house?" she asked and Catherine nodded. "I told you I could see you with a huge loving family. I could see the love you had for each other from that day." Nonna spread her arms to include the huge group of family members.

Catherine leaned in and kissed her cheek. "You were right."

Danny smiled and clasped a hand on her shoulder and one on Steve's. "Nonna always is."

#_End. Thanks for reading!_

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